Paranor KYD: 9 Immortals

The party used the ritual to reactivate the titan, instructing it to journey to the Town of the Aged Ox and there follow his commands. The titan then carried the party back to Kisada, who took over its direction. The party then went into the swamp to find and destroy the star spawn, to fulfil their obligation to Kisada. They found the beast and slew it, taking a chunk of it that showed the burns from Kisada’s jade weapon as proof. In the swamp, Breeze also found a Heartwood tree where she could safely store the Amberlight, knowing that no one else could find it.
When the party arrived back at the Town of the Aged Ox, Kisada announced that he would go back into the swamp with the party to slay the other star beast, leaving his son in charge. He told them that Saelen would be there to see the party when they returned. The party and the Fortune then journeyed several hours away from town so that Kisada could whisper his last words on to one of the Black Scrolls, thereby giving up his immortality. He asked the party to leave him there to die.
The party went back to town, where everyone was sad to see that Kisada had not survived. They met with Saelen, who revealed that he was not a student of the Ambasador—he was spying on the ambasador. The party remembered that Cinderchoke, the dragon, had told them that the ambasador was someone the party had met and that he wanted to hurt dragons. The party decided that meant either “Dichotomous” Rex or Barghest. Saelen revealed that he was a two-souled—a kalashtar—so he could project what he wanted others to see him as right into their minds. He used that power to show the party what the ambasador truly looks like: a milky-white elf with black cheatah-like marks beneath his eyes.
The party went back to Three Walls. They asked Malachai if he would lead an army of freed slaves for a while, and he agreed. Saffron orchestrated an “accidental” bumping into Rex so that she could press the Worrystone to his scales. He did not become a pale elf, so the party decided that Barghest must be the ambasador. They consulted with Celia and Malachai regarding the remaining immortals, and decided that after tracking down Barghest, they would go south to seek out The Alchemist.

After speaking with Kisada, the party went north to meet his twelve sons the obsidian titan. On the way, they used Uragirimono‘s calling stone and asked what they could tade him for the animating slip of paper that had been lost to him at the casino. He said he would give it to the party in exchange for them finding a leader (a prince or a prophet) for the freed slaves of the Maker. The party agreed and were given a month to complete their task.
A few days later, they arrived at the ruins of the Maker’s workshop and foudn the sons of Kisada waiting. They told the party that the machines were gating in waves of attackers at the home of Arn Stonebrow, and they could teleport the party there to save them, but there was the matter of the party wanting to kill their father to deal with first.
The brothers agreed to send all of the party to Arn’s village except for Arn himself, so that Arn and the brothers, all devout followers of Eldil, could settle the matter according to the Council of Thirteen. They would fight to the death, and whomever was left standing would go save Arn’s town. If Arn could kill all but one of the brothers, the last son of Kisada would take him father’s place guarding the Village of the Aged Ox.
Arn agreed.
So, one of the brothers had his dragon companion open a portal to Arn’s home, and once the dragon and party were gone, Arn battled the sons of Kisada, one by one. He eventually bested all of them except for one brother, who chose life instead of honor, and Arn was given the Amberlight, which would seal the portals that the machines were using to get to his home.
The rest of the party held back the waves of robots until Arn arrived, and then the dragon took the entire party back to the obsidian titan.

The party set off after burning down the nameless village/rescuing the nameless
baby. Saffron Greywall was rather taken with the child, and therefore avoided
danger as the party marched southward, toward the Village of the Aged Ox.

They marched without incident for two days as the forest around them gradually
thinned.

Upon nearing an abandoned watchtower, the party was attacked by more starspawn.
They overcame the foul beasts fairly easily, but discovered a disturbing fact:
one of the spawn had adapted to feed on ash. Nevertheless, the party burnt the
remains of the creatures and carried onward.

Near nightfall, the party sought out shelter in a particularly tall clump of
bushes. Inside, they found an abandoned camp. Exploring further, they found
that much of the camp equipment was useless or empty. They chose to stay in the
brushy clearing anyway, and went to sleep. On Arn‘s watch, the party was
surprised (sleepy dwarf!) by a group of super-specialized machines. The
Clockwork Skulks, in particular, seemed to be able to penetrate the party’s
defenses and strike with near-lethal force. The Clockwork Moths also presented
difficulties, but were unable to effectively use their stunning power more than
once. Eventually, the party successfully drove off the Moths and defeated the
other machines.

Two days later, the party reached the rise that shelters the Village of the Aged
Ox. There, they witnessed the destructive power of a huge Starspawn as it
rushed towards the town’s lone defender – a boy, perhaps 12 years old. At the
last moment, a giant of a man sprung forth from a concealed pit and dragged the
beast down. He pummeled it with his fists and with Jade, but the monster
escaped. Children rushed out from the village to hug and congratulate the hero,
and the party swept in to investigate.

The party learned that the behemoth was indeed Kisada, [[The Fortune | the Fortune of
Persistence]]. He quickly relieved Saffron of the burden of caring for the
orphan, and handed the child over to one of the village women. He determined the
party’s intent easily, and separated from the rest of the village to discuss it.
In the end, he agreed to give up his immortality and his life for the greater
good. In exchange, the party must:
1) Find the Obsidian Titan, reactivate it, and bind it to guard the Village.
2) Meet with Kisada’s sons at the Titan to determine who will lead the Village
after he departs.
3) Destroy the escaped Starspawn.

In addition, Kisada agreed to call Saelen in to talk to the party. They are
scheduled to meet again in 3 weeks at the Village.

The session began with the party standing in the high stakes room. Oak entered the room and Elias Drakethorn charged him. Oak called a beam of sunlight on the vampire, and Elias fell to the ground, convulsing in the light.
Oak indicated to the party that he’d like to have a meal and conversation with the party before they kill each other, so that the victor would know whom he had killed. The party hesitantly agreed, after Oak released Elias to crawl from the room.
Small tables were brought in, and the party sat in a circle with Oak, each eating their own food and drinking their own drink. Oak explained that he would answer any of their questions in exchange for any new or interesting information the party could give him. Arn Stonebrow was the first to grab Oak’s interest, when he introduced himself as a Forgeborn and revealed that he had been incarnated and given Forgeborn’s own Axe. Oak seemed delighted at this information. Falchion told Oak about how she also returned from the dead and gave him the last words of the fallen immortals. Breeze revealed that the party was the basis for the ghost stories about the Moth in the Gears, Empty Shell, Forge of Remaking, and Dark Daughter of the Unmaker. Shivers tried to impress Oak by holding his breath.
In exchange for their stories, Oak told his own, revealing much of his past. He told the party about the Court of Stagnation, and how they were causing trouble between the seasonal fairy courts. He also explained what he knew about King Nothing and the remaining Immortals. All of his information pointed the party to the Town of the Aged Ox as their next destination.

Eventually, everyone got around to killing each other, and the Winter Night joined the fight. Oak, a true elf, possessed the abilities of all three elf-ish races, and he was a swordmage. He fought fiercely, eventually fracturing into three perfect versions of himself, an elf, an eladrin, and a drow, as he neared death. The party struck down all three of his incarnations within seconds of each other and Ro-Kang caught the Oak’s last words on one of the Black Scrolls. Falchion took up Oak’s fallen relic sword, Like Hell You Do, and offcially resumed the use of her birth name, Saffron Greywall.

On their way south, Arn made contact with Mr. Honey, telling him all they had learned from Oak about the fairy infighting. Like Hell You Do did not appreciate the party assisting the Summer Court of fairies and its concordance decreased. Later, the party came across the remains of a town that had been assaulted by Star Spawn. They destroyed the remaining abominations and burned down the shell of the village to make sure there were no more star spawn. As the fire licked up the sides of the building, Saffron suddenly found herself running into one of the burning buildings. She pried up the boards of the house’s floor with her newly acquired sword, revealing an unconscious child lying in her dead mother’s arms. Saffron scooped up the girl and carried her from the destroyed building. Like Hell You Do approved of Saffron saving someone from a fire and its concordance increased.
Saffron found herself strangely attached to the newly orphaned girl. She vowed to care for the child herself until she could deliver the girl to a safe and loving home.

The party began the session in Three Walls. They tracked down Malachai to see if he had any new information for them, but he was less than helpful. He did reveal that wearing the Crown of Nava would let the wearer discern scrying, but alsl drive them mad. The party left Malachai and Three Walls to head to the gambling house owned by The Elf.

After several days on the road, the party arrived at the gambling house, were asked to stow their weapons, and entered. In the first room, many simple games of cards and dice were being played by various groups. Breeze inquired about going further into the casino and was told that the party must draw notice. Arn, Shivers, and Falchion played various games, throwing around money and makign their presence known for a while before the party was invited to the high stakes room.

In the high stakes room, the party engaged in several games of luck and skill. Falchion and Shivers played Liar’s Dice with a man called Parcival. Breeze won a skill game called Talent versus Felara, a member of the Booktenders. Shivers lost several magic items to Uragirimono playing Items of Interest. Arn lost many healing surges in a game called Pain against a chained devil. Falchion lost a lot of blood but won some money playing Vampire’s Bluff with Elias Drakethorn. She also won a game of Mastery versus Xn’Keth, the mind flayer (to everyone’s surprise). The whole party participated in Run through the Woods (blindfolded), and Falchion tied for the win with an elf called Pailan and the halfling, Lowlow Luckstealer, splitting the pot. Shivers lost at Endurance, facing one of his old fellow monks from the Caves of the Empty Bowl, the Master of Thirst. Arn played Dice with Lowlow Luckstealer, going one-and-one. Shivers played Guillotine with Mr. Sharps, a Summer Court Master, and lost. Breeze played High Card with Werlich, the hedge wizard, going one-and-one (which thoroughly confused Werlich, who was surprised he could lose).

After much gambling, the high stakes room’s pit boss, a woman called Opal (who had registered the party for Run through the Woods), informed the party that they had garnered the attention of the casino’s master and she threw all of the other patrons and game masters our of the room. The party waited for Oak to arrive, but were instead surrounded by enemies coming in from both doors to the room. One end of the room filled with a contigent of Stagnation fairies and a group of casino guards, archers, blocked the other exit.

Arn quickly dumped everyone’s weapons and holy symbols out of his Bag of Holding, and the party engaged their opponents. As the archers drew back to fire on Arn, a misty form shot into the room, and Elias Drakethorn coalesced between Arn and the archers, ripping the covering off his holy symbol and calling forth the dead god, Tck’Arrith, to absorb the arrows (and burning his hand on his own holy symbol).

While Elias dealt with the archers, the party picked off the Stagnation fairies, though they had to deal with being dazed, stunned, immobilized, and restrained at various times during the fight. Finally, all the fairies and archers were dead, and the party took a short rest. Elias informed the party that Oak was on his way and offered them healing in the form of his Lay on Hands ability. The party thanked Elias for his help and readied to face the master of the casino.

In Three Walls, the party did some shopping and checked for rumors. Breeze tried to locate Barghest, but the other druid had moved on from the area. The party was mildly concerned that Malachai had gone missing, but were distracted by other issues. They also considered assisting Celia West with her anxiety and feeling of being watched, but a fresh tale of banditry caught their attention.
Some local woodmen had been robbed of all possessions down to their boots and left tied to the town wall by an infamous bandit called Yurick, the Bastard. The party made inquiries, and both Ansgar Barrelchest and “Dichotomous” Rex told them that the Bastard was rumored to be in possession of an item of interest: A worry stone believed to have belonged to Phayer.
The party tracked down the bandit and his eladrin and minotaur minions making camp a few days NW of Three Walls. Diplomacy was tried, but the Bastard declared that there had been “Enough Talk!” and initiated combat. Breeze balefully polymorphed the Bastard into a helpless newt that Falchion viciously attacked. Once de-newted, the Bastard began teleporting randomly throughout the battlefield, but Falchion pursued. The Bastard finally knocked the avenger unconscious and demanded the party cease hostilities on threat of her death, but Arn healed her, and as she regained consciousness, the Bastard surrendered.
The party took back the items that had been stolen and demanded a small item in addition—the worry stone—but the Bastard did not have it. The party tried to question the bandit further, but were interrupted by the arrival of a furious summer court hit squad. The bandits fled and the party defended against the newly arrived fairies. One of the fairies was screaming about the Winter Knight.
The party knocked two of the fairies unconscious and bloodied the third when a new player entered the battle: Mr. Honey. He dismissed the other fairies and sat the party down for a chat, explaining that someone was trying to start a war among the fey courts. He revealed the location of Phayer’s Worry Stone, which was buried nearby. He explained the relic’s power as Falchion dug the small stone up. It revealed the true nature of whomever held it, and could be used to identify whatever shape-changing entity was causing the trouble in the Fey realms. To prove that the stone worked, Mr. Honey touched the stone, revealing his true form to Arn (in a weird parallel to the dream Arn had, when Lucius learned the true name of a creature).
That night, Arn dreamed of bees tattooing the the inside of his nose and Falchion dreamed of a life that was not her own.

The party gained the benefits of a long rest after defeating the energy beam room. They ascended to fight The Last.

Upon entering the portal, the players found themselves standing on tiny worlds that circled a central point. Arn and Falchion landed on the ice world, while Breeze and Shivers landed on a fiery one. The Last stood on a central world, out of reach of both other worlds. Crystalline warriors swarmed the party. The party quickly discovered that the warriors caused the planetoids to emit huge blasts of energy when they were destroyed. The party then directed these blasts, in alternating fashion, at the Last – destroying his shields.

The plane shook, and the Last shifted space around himself. He grew larger, more brutish, and capable of taking multiple attacks. The brute form proved too weak for the party, and the Last shifted the planes again.

As the plane shifted, the two planetoids collapsed into one another. Soon, a face emerged as the Last inhabited their forms. It quickly swallowed Arn, and began to wear down the other party members. Eventually, they were able to defeat it, but Arn’s life was lost in the process.

The party used the Black Scroll “Reincarnation” to bring Arn back – as a Forgeborn Dwarf. They then searched the island where the Tower of Nava had been, finding a suit of Jade Scale armor, a legendary Dwarven Axe, and some other loot. They also acquired the Black Scroll “Extinction.”

They returned to Three Walls, where Celia “helped” Arn to identify the axe, and gave them some information on more immortals. In the end, the party decided to head after The Elf.

The characters continued to ascend the tower. They encountered a puzzle room with sliding platforms, which required them to split up. After struggling with the platforms, the party was able to vanquish the last enemy and move on.

The next room contained a number of dangerous barriers that could be switched on and off. Falchion tried to teleport, but was struck by a Spriggan as she stepped into the Feywild. Eventually, the party managed to switch the barriers so that they could move on.

The party also found a relic of Nava – one of The Lost. Upon touching it, Shivers fell unconscious and dreamed about a life that was not his, opening up The Key.

The party left Three Walls en route to the lair of The Last. They stopped in Myris on the way to see the legendary city and do some more research. Shivers, thinking of Celia back in Three Walls, decided to hire a Book Tender to research the price of bread in Three Walls ten years ago. For just over 200gp, he was able to find the information Celia wanted, and had it sent to her on official Library letter head by New Myris’ secure mail carriers.

Quite satisfied with their stay, the party left Myris shortly, traveling toward the coast and the small atoll where The Last’s tower was suposedly located. They only had one encounter of note on their way, a midnight visit from an Emissary of Winter, who told us that Thunderclaw, the Blade of Spring, had recently been used in an attack on one of the Winter Blue Dragons. Spring attacking Winter could mean war, and the emissary told us to keep guard of the Winterblade (and the Winter Night, Ro-Kang), to keep them safe. She also implied her personal opinion that the Springblade might not be in the possession of an agent of Spring, and that she thought Shivers might be better suited to the duties of the Winter Knight.

With no further faerie intervention, the party made it to the small atoll where the tower should be. It took them a while to notice the building, which was a mirror-faced octagonal structure. Falchion realized that this was the fabled home of the now-dead Goddess, Nava, She Who Does Not Blink.
Examining the structure, they found it was covered in wards and spells. Arn searched through the chaos to find the ward to open the structure and did so. The party entered the low building (the rest of the mirrored tower floats above the bottom building, held in place by magical forces) and heard the voice of The Last, demanding to know why they had come. The party tried diplomacy, asking an audience, but the disembodied voice simply told them to leave. Falchion coldly told the voice that it was in possesion that belonged to Olghast that must be returned. In response, The Last called red and blue crystals to assault the party, and two pits in the room began to crackle with electricity that slowly rose toward them.

The mirror at the far end of the room spit out more crystals as they defeated them, and after a few waves, the crystals conbined to create stronger constructs that teleported around the room, making the fight very difficult. Eventually, enough had been destroyed to power up the portal in the mirror frame, giving the party access to the upper portion of the tower. They took a short rest and then jumped through the portal.

In the room above, they found more crystalline creatures and a room covered in runes and sigils. In the center of the room was a three-part obelisk that was also covered in runes. The party realized that they needed to turn the faces of the obelisk to mirror the patterns on the walls to solve the puzzle, and worked on doing that while engaging the monsters. One of the creatures caused party members to attack adjacent allies, so the party tried to stay out of blast range but kept being immobolized and blocked by walls of fire. After a grueling battle, all of the crystal critters were still and the portal was completely powered up. The party took a few moments to compose themselves, watching through the glass floor as the lightning from the section below continued to rise toward them, before jumping through the next portal.

At the beginning of the session, the party were in the middle is an extended rest, sleeping in the entry of the underground mine. They heard some noise from behind them, deeper within the hole and were surprised to see the tinker. He explained that they were about to face The Maker himself, and that they much defeat him quickly or all would be lost. The tinker gave the party his Naming Stone and his name, Uragirimono, and told them that if they needed him at any point after the battle, they could heat the stone in a fire and say his name. He also said that if they trivialized his time, he would simply change his name and be free of them.

They party finished their rest and then took the field, finding a large mesa had lifted up from the ground. They climbed to the top to find a lone figure standing in the middle of the clearing. The party engaged the figure and he spawned a multitude of copies. The clay blanks attacked mindlessly, but The Maker was able to switch his consciousness between the forms, keeping the party of their toes. Eventually, they had destroyed enough clay men for The Maker to try a different tactic. He abandoned the clay men and raised an obsidian titan from the ground. Its perfect face and four gem-studded hands come up through the earth and began attacking the party who had to find paths to climb the construct’s limbs to crack the gems powering them. Leaping from the creatures raised fist to its head, the party attacked the gem in the titan’s forehead, finally stilling the construct.

With the titan defeated, The Maker created an army of blank-faced minions, spreading his awareness among them. When the party struck more than one of them down in a single attack, another spawned. When a party member missed with an attack, another copy was created. The party waded through the sea of clay men, striking them down. Eventually, only one clay copy was left, the last shell of the maker, and Shivers caught his last words on one of the Black Scrolls.

The Maker told the party the even The Never-Was Prince doesn’t know who he is, and that the party is too flawed. With his final action, he made the party “more perfect,” marking each of their bodies with a tattoo of something precious to them and binding them closer together.

When the party returned to Three Walls, they were surprised and confused. Streets were not where the party had left them, Kurt’s inn had a new name, and the army of ghosts who had guarded the wall were gone. The Never-Was Prince had touched the town, altering its very fabric, changing the history of the town and its inhabitants. Only Malachai realized that The Prince had been, because he’d felt his presence while out hunting for shoulder blades. He told the party that he would not be trying to scry on that individual ever again. The party asked him to look into The Last.

Three new individuals existed in town, and the party sought them out. Ansgar Barrelchest was building a larger church to Eldil, Celia West was researching the cost of bread during the decade before, and Rex was looking for able-bodied adventurers to seek out riches. The party tried to help all three, but only truly befriended Celia (alienating Rex in the process). They are still on speaking terms with Ansgar, but Celia is their new contact in Three Walls.

In order to win Celia’s trust, the party had to seek out a text she believed to exist in town. Malachai revealed he had possessed the book, but had lost it. He told the party what bits he remembered, including the quotes:

“Near the end of times, the king who never was will be sought by the minions of darkness. Heroes and villains will dream of another life, madmen and lepers will have visions of many deaths.”

“Everything is important. Everyone is someone who wasn’t. Only when that which never was comes close to pass will that which must not be, stop.”

Hearing these words, Arn reveals that he has been dreaming of a life not his own: the life of a foreign priest name Lucias.

No other party members have dreamed at all since they were all touched by the Nightmare in the Cave of the Empty Bowl.

The party started between the two remaining buildings of The Maker‘s workshop. One of the buildings had an intricate chain holding it shut, and Falchion managed to gum it up while trying to open it, so the adventurers went to the other building.

It was a smaller, square building with no apparent door. One wall was dominated but a 20ft-diameter fan, sucking smoke out of the building. Arn slowly climbed one of the walls to find the room had no roof and contained a huge anvil, a smoking forge, a quenching/swimming pool, and two massive pillars hung with blacksmithing tools. Three steel sentinals worked in the room. Arn lassoed a nearby pillar so that Shivers and Breeze could climb up the wall as well. Falchion studied the spinning fan while the rest of the party climbed, then leapt through the blades as Shivers and Arn dropped into the room.

The party engaged the sentinals, and the mercurial caryatid and adamantine colossus appeared as well, rounding out the guardians as they had been in the previous rooms. One of the sentinals slammed into the wall on which Breeze was balancing, knocking her to the ground outside. The colossus stood in the forge fire, which clearly damaged him, but turned his massive chain white hot, and he whipped party members with it, doing extra fire damage.
The caryatid turned invisible and weaved in and out of combat while the party, hedged into a corner, tried to deal with the sentinals. Eventually, the sentinals went down, and the party turned their attention to the colossus, which leapt into the quenching pool. The party switched focus to the caryatid, and the colossus surged out of the water, grabbing up the giant anvil and hurling it at Shivers standing in front of the fan. The anvil slamed into him, knocking him into the blades, but the anvil also hit the blades, stopping them, so Shivers was not sliced to ribbons. The room began to fill with choking smoke, but the party quickly finished off the guardians, grabbing the third Forgestone.

After a short rest (where Falchion used the three Forgestones to regain healing surges), the party smashed through the stuck chain barrier and descended into the final guardian room. Stone guardians were mining in the cavern. Two sentinals and a colossus were visible when the party entered the room, but the caryatid came out from behind the colossus to dominate Arn. Attacking the caryatid, the party realized that the sentinals were taking half the damage of their fellows, so the party focused on the sentinals, one by one, trying to avoid the caryatid’s aura and not get smashed by the giant stone colossus. Eventually all the guardians were destroyed, and the party acquired the fourth Forgestone.
The tinker had told the party they would be able to rest after acquiring the last Forgestone, so the party did so, waiting for The Maker to come and engage them.

As the party rests, a towering pillar of black smoke continues to rise from the forging workshop, likely visible for miles.

The party left Three Walls, heading north into The Beastlands. They decided to hold to the roads to hit towns along their way, and stopped to gather information in TOWN. The town was a military encampment run by dragonborn. They told the party that if they wanted to trade for more than basic supplies, they’d need to talk to the tinker who visited town every few days. The party did as instructed, finding the strange peddler just outside the encampment. He was a Kilnfolk, a created race of ceramic men, made by The Maker. The party traded some of the magic items they’d found for differnet ones and some information, and then the tinker finished up his other transactions so that he and the party could speak privately.
He told the group that he knew of their quest and was willing to help. He volunteered to distract the minios and guardians of The Maker’s workshop so that the party would have time to infiltrate it. The Kilnfolk man also told the party of what they had to do to engage The Maker himself: Destroy the Forgestones, which would each be guarded.

Together, the party and the tinker travelled to The Maker’s workshop.

The tinker caused his distraction, and the party entered the complex. In the first building, they found guardians made from ice. While battling them, the party found that the creatures did not show damage as most living things did. It was impossible to tell how injured one of the guards was until it shattered.
One of the guardians could fly, and it grabbed Breeze and incapacitated her several times during the battle, but the party eventually destroyed all the guardians, including the largest, which contained the first Forgestone.

From there, the party moved on to the second building, after a short rest. From ice, they moved to fire; finding a huge flaming kiln taking up the entire back wall of the guarded room, tended by creatures made from clay. A red-hot guardian came out of the kiln during the battle, sending small living flames forth to singe the adventurures throughout the fight. These beings were also Perfect, showing no wounds until they cracked into pieces. But the party destroyed all of them and avoided being shoved into the fire by the guards, and destroying the second Forgestone.

The party short-rested and now heads toward the next building of The Maker’s workshop.

The party finished their long rest to find the machines were drilling tiny holes through the walls and roof of their prison. The Berserker was still working on the boundry between the party and himself when liquid began streaming into the room. The substance quickly began to harden, and the party began helping their immortal target destroy the boulder between them.
A gap formed, and the party jumped into his cell.

Hida Amoro seemed strangely calm after a century of inprisonment. He was a giant of a man, ten feet tall, and clad only in the torn remnants of pants. He held his naked sword away from his body.

The party briefly tried to convince the Berserker to go quietly, but he was not interested. The battle began.
Amoro was a fierce opponent, who reacted violently to being knocked prone and having his attacks interupted. He killed the avenger before the party bloodied him, but eventually, they wore him down.

“Hate keeps up alive,” were Hida Amoro’s last words, captured on a Black Scroll by Arn Stonebrow.

The chamber shook and the pillars holding it from collapse began to faulter. The party climbed out of the prison to find the thousands of machines who’d occupied the valley fleeing en masse.
They used their previously acquired Black Scroll (Return of the Dark Lord), to ressurect Falchion, and began the walk back to Three Walls.

Along the way, they began to hear the tales told by the machines, stories about the foul creatures who had broken into the carefully guarded prison and freed “The Demvil.”

Each member of the party was whispered about as a scione of terror—A boogeyman:

Arn Stonebrow was The Forge of Unmaking, who twisted the parts of fallen machines to make decorations for his armor.Breeze was Moth in the Gears, anathema to smooth-running machines, causing things to go wrong.Tristan “Shivers” Wormwood was The Empty Shell, a machine-analog of a zombie: a souless suit of armor that refused to lay down and be still.Saffron Greywall (Falchion) was The Dark Daughter of the Unmaker, who took pleasure in torturing and destroying any machine she could find when it was alone.

During their trek north, they came upon another faerie ambush: Tree-like creatures who created pod-versions of members of the party. When the last one was defeated, it announced, “Summer will avenge us!”

Back in Three Walls, the party decided on their next target, choosing to pursue The Maker.

Note from the Scribe: I had ALMOST finished this session summary and went to save it, mis-clicked, and LOSTTHEWHOLETHING… So this version is not as detailed because I’m cranky!

The party began with a long rest in the room of their last combat.
After resting, thy continued on through the dungeon, eventually coming to a strange room. It was square, with an obelisk in the center with bladed edges. The exit was opposite the entrance, but was sealed with a mesh grate. Investigating the obelisk, the party entered the room, which sealed behind them. Bolts of energy shot from four small alcoves high on the walls at a device atop the obelisk, ricocheting toward party members. Shivers climbed a wall to get at the alcoves while Arn climbed the obelisk (Falchion tried and failed to climb) while Breeze flew to the top. Arn and Breeze found small crystal figures of phoenixes at the top of the obelisk, and destroying them shut off the trap. Falchion found a control panel for opeing the door, but was unable to make it work, shocking herself several times, before examinign the door carefully and finding its LifeWire. The party killed the door and moved on.

In the next room, some kind of broken filtration chamber, the party fought a Gamma Knight, a Gamma Mage, and some more of the worker/soldier hybrids. The floor-to-ceiling mesh blades of the filtration wheel were inconvenient, but did not block line of effect for teleportation. The party bested the mall, eventually, know they were unknowingly exposed to radiation. Falchion dug a small box out of one of the machine’s form, finding a small, nonmagical, ticking egg.

Entering a wide, down-sloping hallway, the party continued for a ways before hearing a disturbing sound behind them. One of the house-sized stone block they’d seen being carved above ground was sliding down the hall, gaining speed.
This began a skill challenge where the party had to avoid obstacles while racing down the shaft, trying to stay ahead of the giant rock. A small, flying robot flipped switches and activated runes, causing darts and gouts of flame to shoot out at the party, distracting them from drop-offs, and otherwise causing mischief. Finally, the machine triggered a partial cave-in, trying to bury the party, but they leapt past the falling rubble through a smaller archway as the giant stone slammed against the arch, sealing them in.

The party was trapped in a small room between two huge rocks filling the opposite archways. Between the blocked exits was a huge construct made entirely of blades. Arn called holy fire to attack the thing and it exploded into many smaller machines: A flechette prince, a flechette knight, a flechette swarm, and several animate shrapnel.
Shivers went after the Prince while Falchion focussed on the knight and Breeze dealt with the swarm. Shrapnel attacked everyone, exploding to damage the target if they missed with their attack. Eventually, the party was victorious.

When the machines fell silent, the complex’s prisoner, now separated from the party by one large rock, ceased his attack on the barrier for a moment to listen and then laugh before resuming his efforts to destroy his prison.

The party rested again, uneasy, as the immortal Berserker railed against the stone barrier. Now, cracks form around the edges and the entire rock shakes and shudders as Hida Amoro readies to leave his cell for the first time in over a century.

In Three Walls, the party tried to learn more about The Ascetic‘s strange last words. Falchion spoke to Kurt, the left handed about it while Breeze and Arn went out into the forest to talk to Barghest, a druid in the area.
Both were told about Jophur’s connection to the Kolat: Cults dedicated to the acts of men, believing the gods were incapable of saving them. They both also learned that the Never-Was-Prince (also called King Nothing and Might-Have-Been Lord) was a legend, but that a Dreamer might be more helpful. Barghest told Breeze and Arn that there was a Dreamer in Three Walls, all over the place, whose name began with a B.
Grouped back up in town, the party set out to look for the Dreamer. Falchion noticed that there were guards at the walls of Three Walls, something that seemed strange, since the walls themselves supposedly protected the town. Looking closer, she noticed that every guard as the same height and build, wore identical armor, and each had the same unusual scar visible on his face beneath his helmet. The party spoke with the guard/s, Baku, and learned that the Never-Was Prince seems able to erase being from memory.
Baku then directed the party to speak with Malachai, who gave them the information he had (including, to his personal disgust, that the party would be recalled in songs and stories for generations to come).

Malachai provided horses for the party, and they set out to the south west. As the woods became colder and denser, the party had to lead their mounts, and eventually came to a strange clearing with a stone circle. Upon entering the clearing, the party was attacked by a group of spriggans who accused the party of being “Friends of Winter” and demanded they produce the “Knight of Winter.” The adventurers dispatched the faeries without too much difficulty, sending them each back to the feywild , then destroying the crossing created by the stone circle. They rested briefly, pondering their pressumed connection to the Faerie Court of Winter, and decided it must be linked to Ro-Kang’s possession of the Winterblade (one of the fabled Finger-Bone Blades of Olghast). They continued on toward the lands of the Machine and the Unquiet Tomb of Hida Amoro.
Thousands of animate clockwork guarded and maintained the outside of the prison, cutting huge blocks of stone, mortoring cracks, and keeping watch. The party snuck throug the simple archway into the underground labrynth.

The first machines they encountered inside were heralds, set to guard but not to fight. They informed the party that “The Devil must be contained,” and that they would alert all of the guards if we tried to advance. Falchion became invisible and slipped betwen the pair, rising behidn them to attack the sparking golden wires that protrude from the back of every machine.
The robots became terrified, shocked that a sentient creature could attack the LifeWire and shorten it so coldly. Shivers then attacked the other herald, and they both put their backs agaist the wall, clearing the archway, and pleaded that the party spare them such cruelty. Shivers informed the robots that if they alerted the guards, we would come back for them and destroy their LifeWires slowly, inch by inch. The robots lamented the terrible choice: being tortured or allowing the party to free The Devil. The party moved on.

Further inside the prison, the party saw lights at the end of a long passage. Falchion snuck ahead to peak, but was detected and almost simgle-handed killed by the waiting sentry. The party rushed up to engage the machine guards: three worker/soldier hybrids, an Electron Knight, and a gun-armed Electron Mage. The fight seemed fairly balanced, until Falchion bested the Mage, causing all he hybrid guards to focus all their attention on her. They surrounded her and beat her into the floor, trying to reduce her to a bloody smear, but Arn and Shivers saved her, and eventually all of the robots were still.

The party scavenged valuable bits from the remains of the machines, including their long, golden LifeWires, and continued into the maze.

The tired adventurers continued through the seemingly endless mountain passes, coming to a fork deccorated with a bird on one side and a dog on the other. They chose the bird.

*The Trial of the Phoenix: A fledgling phoenix sat in the middle of the room. It did not seem to understand the words of the party until Arn greeted it in Dwarven. The phoenix asked Arn how it could help him, and Arn explained that the party needed to pass the trial. The phoenix’s eyes turned red as it shouted, “Then burn!” and filled the room with fire. The party ran blindly across the room, finding a door and throwing themselves through it to escape the flames. They found themselves in a hallway that took them back to the Trial of the Lion. They made their way through previously vanquished trials with no interference, and took the alternate fork.

*The Trial of the Dog (Scorpion): An image of a dog informed the party that one of them would become his. As Shivers stepped forward to attack the dog, he was frozen by bonds of force and began taking damage. Falchion crossed the room to attack the dog, which was unharmed by her blade. Shivers took less damage with one of his friends further from him, and so the party reluctantly abandoned him and crossed the room to the door. Once he was alone, Shivers was freed, and the party moved on.

*The Trial of the Pig: A pig statue in the room told the party they must compensate it for passage. After some negotiation, the party gave the pig all of their coins and the creature opened the door.

As the adventurers trekked up the last stretch of tunnel, sunlight visible at the end of the shaft, a pair of equine figures blacked the archway. An adult kirin and an inky nightmare greeted the party. They were the parents of the kirin child locked within the mountain, and they were grateful for the kindness shown to the child by Arn. They oftered what assistance they could: The nightmare granted the party members each the benefits of an extended rest by delivering them their worst nightmares. Only minutes later, each adventurer was refreshed, but shaken. The equine pair entreated the party to do what they could to free the spirit of the mountain from the aesetic, and the party promised to try.

Out in the sunlight, the party found themselves on a ledge below the rocky summit of the mountain. They climbed up to the icy peak and found The Aesetic, alone, unafraid. Staked to the highest spire of the mountain was the writhing corpse of Sword, trying in vain to free itself and join the army of its god.
Enraged, Falchion charged the monk leader across the ice-covered summit, Shivers and Ro-Kang close behind her. Arn began to scale the tower of stone to give what aid he could to Sword’s remains.
While Arn worked to free the champion of death, the rest of the party focused on Jophur, who leaped about, slowing the party, making it difficult for them to catch him. After a time, he called up man-sized hands of stone from the surface of the mountain to aid him, grabbing the adventurers and keepign them from him.
Arn arrived at the spire’s peak and wrenched the post from the chest of Sword, freeing the dead soldier. It stripped its gear from its bones—useless to it in unlife—and asked Arn how it could serve: Should it fight with them, free them from bonds, or heal them? Arn chose freedom, and all the adventurers suddenly were freed from and temporarily immune to Jophur’s movement impairments. The corpse of Sword then left the mountain top to join the army of his god. Arn leapt from the tower to join his friends.
Jophur, enraged, lashed out against the mountain, causing a huge section of it to break free and collapse. Luckily, none of the adventurers were caught on the falling rocks. Jophur made the mountain-thing protect him, becoming invulnerable until the party destroyed each of the huge stone hands protruding from the mountain.
Eventually, they party brought Jophur down, and Shivers caught his last words on one of the black scrolls: “You cannot find the Never-Was-Prince. No Fate – No Destiny – No gods – Only Free Will.”
Jophur, the Filth-Gorger, once-leader of the Cult of Indulgance, slumped to the ground.
Freed, the spirit of the mountain rumbled its gratitude to the party. The kirin mother and her nightmare mate reappeared, also grateful, and ferried the party down from the mountain peak after Falchion gathered the belongings of her fallen hero.
Sword’s belongings were distributed among the party, each member receiving something powerful and useful.

Back at Three Walls, Malachai gave the party the leads he had on which immortal the party would pursue next. The group chose The Berzerker, and Malachai began to gather information on him.

As they were standing just outside the Trial of the Lion, the cloud of butterflies known as Breeze rejoined the party. She arrived alone, and said nothing when questioned about the location of the missing goliath, so Ku-vaak turned back to search for his brother.

*The Trial of the Lion: A large brass lion roared, summoning lesser cats made of stone or fire. The party had to defeat each foe in valorous combat. At the end of the trial, only Breeze was conscious, and she felled the giant cat on her own.
*The Trial of the Monkey (Scorpion): Only Shivers spotted the tiny scorpion sitting opposite Monkey at his game board. Monkey told the party that they must win the game in one move, but the chessboard was one move from checkmate. Shivers sat down opposite Monkey and spun the board around, so that Monkey was in the loser’s seat, which made the spirit laugh and show the way onward.

Next, the party came to the Chamber of Suffocation, where noxious mushrooms filled the air with spores, making breathing difficult and breath-holding impossible. Clouds of swirling gas floated through the room, creating hazards for the party to avoid. The Master of Suffocation became invisible several times, infuriating the avenger, who only survived the fight due to the selfless acts of Arn and Shivers. In the end, all of the Suffocation devotees were slain, and the party regrouped to make the final ascention.Shivers informed his fellows that all of the Chambers were complete, though there were a few more Trials between the party and Jophur.

Exhausted, drained, and with the hope (but no promise) of rest before reaching the summit, the party marches ever-upward, leaving bloody footprints through the Caves of the Empty Bowl.

At the start of the session, the party was somewhere within the Caves of the Empty Bowl, having just completed a short rest after defeating a group of Hunger devotees.

Ku-vaak Dawncaller had just caught up with the group, having previously been delayed, to find his brother, Ro-Kang, and the druid, Breeze had gotten seperated from the party. Ku-vaak and the rest of the heroes continued through the mountain, encountering several more trials:

*The Trial of the Rabbit: A long, dart-trapped hallway, where speed was a virtue.
*The Trial of the Crane: A room where the floor cut away into nothingness, requiring flight.
*The Trial of the Snake(Scorpion): A game of caustic gas and vials of “antidote,” which turned out to be poison.

After those trials, the adventurers came to the Chamber of Thirst, where they battled two Novices, two Acolytes, and the Master. After five rounds where the party focused on his students and did not engage the Master, he cast a dangerous (but ineffectual) spell and fled the room, leaving his students to their death, but promising that the heroes would see him again.

The adventuruers then continued upward, facing more trials:
*The Trial of the Kirin: Where a young kirin asked the party to play a simple game. Letting the child win pleased her, so she let the group advance.

At this point, the group found a safe place to sleep and took an extended rest. When they left their sanctuary, Scorpion sealed the door behind them.
They advanced to the next trial, The Trial of the Goat, where tiny pillars were spaced evenly throughout an otherwise empty cavern. The party watched the image of Goat leap nimbly from pillar to pillar, crossing the room. Unsure that they could follow, the adventurures decided to to backtrack to the other fork, going to the alternate trial:

*The Trial of the Goat(Scorpion): Here there was an equally perilous set of jumping platforms, ascending a cliff, but the party was able to swim under the cliff to a hidden tunnel instead of leaping like goats.

The party came to the archway indicating the trial of the Lion, who symbolizes martial valor, and are about to step through.

The God of Death sent out angels to assemble a group of paragons in order to try and save the world:

Falchion, the devout servant. Adept at ending lives her god deems waning.Breeze, the orphaned child. Trained to find paths in darkness.Tristan “Shivers” Wormwood, the tempered steel. One who will not stand aside and watch as the world dies.Arn Stonebrow, the conpassionate healer. Trying to save Paranor for his daughter.Ro-Kang and Ku-vaak Dawncaller, the massacre survivors. Brothers with much pain and drive.

Each hero received a vision from Olghast, and they assembled in the town of Three Walls to find the Auger, Malachai, who was less than thrilled at their presence. Malachai divined their purpose (and his continued assistance of them), and gave them a map to their first target: Jophur, the Filth-Gorger, who lives atop the High-Mountain Temple, also called the Caves of the Empty Bowl.Shivers was well-aquinted with the High-Mountain Temple, as he had spent much time in the Chambers of Suffocation, there. He led the party quickly and efficiently into the monastary.
The trials of the Caves of the Empty Bowl presented themselves to the adventurers:

The Trial of the Rat: Where they worked together to move the unseen mechanism in a giant locking wheel.

The Trial of the Ox(Scorpion): Where endurance was briefly rewarded, but impatience and strength won the test.

The Trial of the Tiger(Scorpion): Where stealth and dexterity were useful, but brute force seemed to work as well.
After these three trials, the group came upon a small group of devotees around a table laden with untouched food. The heroes battles the monks, eventually killing all four of them and their master (Falchion-3, Ro-Kang-1, for strikers keeping score at home). They took a brief rest in the cave before moving higher into the honeycombed mountain.